Another year, another demand from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to lawmakers to legalize adult-use cannabis – and all leading to another stalemate, with no progress toward opening the next biggest adult-use market in the U.S.
Despite popular support, adult-use marijuana legalization is absent from the budget deal Shapiro signed into law on Sunday, as Philly Voice noted. The main culprit appears to be a longstanding partisan deadlock.
Since taking office in 2023, Shapiro, a Democrat, has used his annual budget speech to call for legalization as an easy source of state revenue. And Republicans have been reliably opposed, with State Treasurer Stacy Gerrity, the Republican nominee running against Shapiro in his reelection bid in November, vowing to veto any cannabis measure lawmakers might pass.
“Governor Shapiro has been clear that as nearly every one of our neighboring states has already legalized marijuana, we cannot afford to keep losing out on this revenue – and we need comprehensive cannabis reform to make Pennsylvania more competitive and more just,” a Shapiro spokesperson told Spotlight PA last week.
Did Pennsylvania legalize adult-use cannabis?
In addition to omitting adult-use legalization, the Pennsylvania state budget passed Sunday also lacks revenue from newly regulated gambling, the Voice reported.
Adult-use cannabis legalization and sales in Pennsylvania are projected to be a boon for both state coffers and the national industry. Several major marijuana multistate operators have a presence in medical-only Pennsylvania, the country’s fifth-most populous state.
Legal cannabis sales are expected to exceed $2 billion in legalization’s first year, according to the MJBiz Factbook.
State lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled House last year passed a legalization bill that would have restricted sales to state-run outlets. That proposal was rejected outright in the Republican-controlled Senate.
“We’re disappointed to once again see a Pennsylvania budget move forward without progress on establishing a regulated adult-use cannabis market even as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have signaled a willingness to take action and poll after poll shows a majority of Pennsylvanian’s support legalization,” said Meredith Buettner Schneider, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition.
“Every year the Commonwealth delays action, consumers continue to rely on the illicit market while neighboring states capture jobs, investment, and tax revenue that could be benefiting Pennsylvania communities.”
When will Pennsylvania legalize adult-use marijuana?
Folding cannabis legalization into a budget deal, as lawmakers in Virginia recently did to solve a standoff with Gov. Virginia Spanberger, isn’t the last hope for adult-use marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania.
However, GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg remain in control – and don’t appear keen to consider adult-use cannabis anytime soon.
Subscribe to the MJBiz Factbook
Exclusive industry data and analysis to help you make informed business decisions and avoid costly missteps. All the facts, none of the hype.
What you will get:
- Monthly and quarterly updates, with new data & insights
- Financial forecasts + capital investment trends
- State-by-state guide to regulations, taxes & market opportunities
- Annual survey of cannabis businesses
- Consumer insights
- And more!
Since last year, a bipartisan legalization bill has been bottled up in a state Senate committee. To break that deadlock, Democrats last month attempted a parliamentarian maneuver to force an up-down vote on the proposal.
However, as of July 10, that bill has been re-referred to the Senate committee where it had previously been stalled.
The deadlock in Pennsylvania is but one example of Republicans around the country apparently unswayed by President Donald Trump’s push to reschedule marijuana at the federal level.
